ASEAN Ministers Endorse Protocol to Help Settle Trade DisputesThe economic ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations endorsed the protocol that will help settle free trade disputes in the region, according to a joint press statement of the 32nd ASEAN Economic Meeting issued Thursday in Chiang Mai.The protocol sets a framework for compensation to be provided by ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) members that don't comply with agreed tariff reductions. The protocol will allow a member state to temporarily delay the transfer of a product from its temporary exclusion list into the inclusion list or to temporarily suspend its concession on a product already transferred into the inclusion list. The protocol, expected to be signed during the pre-summit ASEANeconomic meeting in Singapore in November, was meant only for those countries facing real difficulties, said the statement. A written submission must be made to the AFTA council, which should include information on the product whose transfer is to be temporarily delayed or the concession of which is temporarily suspended, the duration of the delay of the suspension requested, the reason for the request and the real problems faced. The submission will be considered by relevant ASEAN bodies and separately between members. The separate discussions may include provision for compensatory adjustment measures which may take any form including those under the agreement, mutually agreed to by the applicant member state and member state having principal or substantial supplying interest. Any compensatory adjustment negotiated shall be extended on a most favored nation basis to all other member states. If no agreement is reached within 180 days of the date of receipt of the submission, and a member proceeds with the delay of the transfer or suspension of the concession, substantially equivalent concessions may be withdrawn by the member state with principal or substantial supplying interest. However, the ministers reaffirmed their commitment to realize the AFTA by the year 2002. According to the statement, the ministers were "buoyed" by the sustained economic expansion in the region with average gross domestic product growth being forecast to reach a range of between 4.8 percent to 4.9 percent in the year 2000 after recovering 3.3 percent last year. To strengthen ASEAN's ability to compete in the new knowledge-based economy, the ministers approved the draft e-ASEAN framework agreement and recommended that it be signed at the ASEAN summit in Singapore in November. The framework agreement contains commitment in development on an ASEAN information infrastructure, facilitation of e-commerce, capacity building including human development, e-society and e-government. The three-day meeting opened earlier Thursday. The ministers will hold consultations with ministers from the Closer Economic Relations trade bloc composed of Australia and New Zealand, the European trade commissioner, economic ministers of China, Japan and South Korea. |
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